Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperNerd256
There are times when our programmers do have free time (which I don't see why there would be, unless they can do their work in less than 6 weeks). During this "Free time", they play some games until they're needed. Our programmers are for the most part responsible, and in the end get their work done. One of the major problems here is while they're responsible and do their work, the games distract everyone else, making the team unproductive.
So while your programmers somehow have hourrrrrs of free time, I can tell you from experience that sometimes it's best to cut the games for the team's sake, and for the sake of productivity. Anyways, they're programmers for robot's sake! Tell them to go outside for once!
Bro tip: Tell them outside has really good graphics!
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You seem to be underestimating the job of the programmers.
For the past few years our programmers have had all the code written, waiting to be tested before the robot is completed. This was the case my senior year. I needed to test my code, and one of our lead builders kept telling me it would be done in 1 hour. Well that hour turned into about 10, so I ended up sitting there waiting.
You can also say play with a spare CRIO, but there is only so much that can be done on something that isnt the actual robot.
Programming is unlike building, because sometimes something wont work, and all it takes is to add a ; as opposed to building a new part for the robot. At the same time, something that should be an easy fix can take hours because you miss that ; or added an extra one.
As a programmer it is very possible to have free time, yet I still probably would not have been playing games. Have them research what other teams are doing, or talk about game strategy. If they know that they have nothing to work on that day, just tell them not to show up.